"not a tribute to the murderous Führer"". It premiered in India on 29 July 2011. The film is set during World War II and centres upon the letters written by Mohandas Gandhi (Avijit Dutt) to Adolf Hitler (Raghubir Yadav), and around the relationship of Hitler with his long-term lover Eva Braun (Neha Dhupia), whom he married in his final days in the Berlin bunker in which they died. The film depicts the difference between the ideologies of Gandhi and Hitler and claims the superiority of Gandhism over Nazism. Anupam Kher had originally agreed to play the role of Hitler, but"
"Hitler, and to pray for the peaceful cooperation of Church and State in the Greater German Reich."" The bells were rung but the Bishops of Bavaria along with others omitted mention of Hitler. In October 1938, the Nazis crossed the border into Czechoslovakia and occupied the Sudetenland. Sharing in the widespread relief that war had now been averted Faulhaber suggested sending a telegram, in the name of the German Bishops Conference, to Hitler. Signed by Bertram it read: In 1944 Pope Pius XII wrote to Faulhaber indicating that in the event of a negotiated peace Germany should not have to"
"movement. During the Second World War, in which Chile remained neutral, Serrano campaigned in support of Nazi Germany and promoted anti-semitic conspiracy theories through his own fortnightly publication, ""La Nueva Edad"". In 1942 he joined an occult order founded by a German migrant which combined pro-Nazi sentiment with ceremonial magic and kundalini yoga. It presented the Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler as a spiritual adept who had incarnated to Earth as a savior of the Aryan race and who would lead humanity out of a dark age known as the Kali Yuga. Serrano became convinced that Hitler had not died"
"tanks rolled into Poland. This date is generally acknowledged as the beginning of World War II. The Psychopathic God The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler is a 1977 book by Robert G. L. Waite. It was republished in 1993 by Da Capo Press of New York. It is a psychohistorical examination of German dictator Adolf Hitler explores the events ""by documenting accounts of his behaviour, beliefs, tastes, fears and compulsions."" (Da Capo Press, publisher) While questions have lingered as to whether Hitler had Jewish ancestry, and subsequent history has cast great doubt on the idea, Waite proposes that Hitler's own doubts"
"political neutrality and calling for an end to government opposition. More than 2.1 million copies of the statement were distributed throughout Germany, but its distribution prompted a new wave of persecution against German Witnesses, whose refusal to give the Hitler salute, join Nazi organizations or perform military service demonstrated their opposition to the totalitarian ideology of National Socialism. On October 4, 1934, congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany sent telegrams of protest and warning to Hitler. According to one eyewitness account Hitler was shown a number of telegrams protesting against the Third Reich's persecution of the Bible Students. The eyewitness,"
"correspondence spoke of ""parallel endeavours for peace and the alleviation of suffering"". Despite the early collapse of peace hopes, the Taylor mission continued at the Vatican. According to Hitler biographer John Toland, following the November 1939 assassination attempt by Johann Georg Elser, Hitler said Pius would have wanted the plot to succeed: ""he's no friend of mine"". In the spring of 1940, a group of German generals seeking to overthrow Hitler and make peace with the British approached Pope Pius XII, who acted as an interlocutor between the British and the abortive plot. According to Toland, Munich lawyer, Joseph Muller,"
"length"" to assist them, but the British refused the first time, confusing him with his uncle, the German ambassador to Spain, and replied to the second offer by asking for ""deeds"" rather than ""talk"". Moltke possessed strong religious convictions' in a 1942 letter smuggled to a British friend Lionel Curtis, Moltke wrote: ""Today, not a numerous, but an active part of the German people are beginning to realize, not that they have been led astray, not that bad times await them, not that the war may end in defeat, but that what is happening is sin and that they are"
"- with ""Semites"" including Christians, especially the Catholic Church. Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister for Propaganda, was among the most aggressive anti-Church Nazi radicals. Goebbels led the Nazi persecution of the German clergy and, as the war progressed, on the ""Church Question"", he wrote ""after the war it has to be generally solved... There is, namely, an insoluble opposition between the Christian and a heroic-German world view"". Worried about the dissention caused by the Kirchenkampf, Hitler told Goebbels in the summer of 1935 he sought ""peace with the Churches"" - ""at least for a period of time"". As with the"
"who were convinced that Hitler was leading Germany to disaster, although fewer who were willing to engage in overt resistance. Active resisters in this group were frequently drawn from members of the Prussian aristocracy. Almost every community in Germany had members taken away to concentration camps. As early as 1935 there were jingles warning: ""Dear Lord God, keep me quiet, so that I don't end up in Dachau."" (It almost rhymes in German: ""Lieber Herr Gott mach mich stumm / Daß ich nicht nach Dachau komm."") ""Dachau"" refers to the Dachau concentration camp. This is a parody of a common"
"to overthrow Hitler. The Catholic Church faced persecution in Nazi Germany and persecution was particularly severe in Poland. The Superior General of the Jesuits at the outbreak of War was Wlodzimierz Ledochowski, a Pole. Vatican Radio, which spoke out against Axis atrocities, was run by the Jesuit Filippo Soccorsi. Jesuits made up the largest contingent of clergy imprisoned in the Priest Barracks of Dachau Concentration Camp, where some 30 Jesuits died. Several Jesuits were prominent in the small German Resistance, including the influential martyr Alfred Delp of the Kreisau Circle. The German Jesuit Robert Leiber acted as intermediary between Pius"
"He helped Hitler in the writing of ""Mein Kampf"". He was killed by the SS in the 1934 purge. Article 24 of Hitler's National Socialist Programme of 1920 had endorsed what it termed ""Positive Christianity"", but placed religion below party ideology by adding the caveat that it must not offend ""the moral sense of the German race"". Non-denominational, the term could be variously interpreted, but allayed fears among Germany's Christian majority as to the oft expressed anti-Christian convictions of large sections of the Nazi movement. It further proposed a definition of a ""positive Christianity"" which could combat the ""Jewish-materialistic spirit""."
"appreciation for the spiritual side of humanity; and a simple ""atheist"" by Blainey. His Fascist comrade Benito Mussolini was an atheist. Both were anticlerical, but they understood that it would be rash to begin their Kulturkampfs against Catholicism prematurely. Such a clash, possibly inevitable in the future, was put off while they dealt with other enemies. The nature of the Nazi Party's relationship with the Catholic Church was also complicated. As Hitler rose to power, many Catholic bishops, priests, religious and lay leaders vociferously opposed Nazism on the grounds of its incompatibility with Christian morals. In early 1931, the German"
"Mein Kampf Mein Kampf (, ""My Struggle"") is a 1925 autobiographical book by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany. Volume 1 of ""Mein Kampf"" was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926. The book was edited by Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess. Hitler began ""Mein Kampf"" while imprisoned for what he considered to be ""political crimes"" following his failed Putsch in Munich in November 1923. Although Hitler received many visitors initially, he soon devoted himself entirely to the book. As he"
"of Rosenberg as Nazi philosopher as it apparently endorsed Rosenberg's anti-church and neo-pagan philosophy. The Vatican banned ""Myth of the Twentieth Century"" in February, 1934. During the War, Rosenberg outlined the future he envisioned for religion in Germany. Among its articles: the National Reich Church of Germany was to claim exclusive control over all churches; publication of the Bible was to cease; crucifixes, Bibles and saints were to be removed from altars; and Mein Kampf was to be placed on altars as ""to the German nation and therefore to God the most sacred book""; and the Christian Cross was to"
"20s in Vienna state that he never attended church after leaving home at 18. In Hitler's early political statements, he attempted to express himself to the German public as a Christian. In his book ""Mein Kampf"" and in public speeches prior to and in the early years of his rule, he described himself as a Christian. Hitler and the Nazi party promoted ""Positive Christianity"", a movement which rejected most traditional Christian doctrines such as the divinity of Jesus, as well as Jewish elements such as the Old Testament. In one widely quoted remark, he described Jesus as an ""Aryan fighter"""
"Treaty. Nevertheless, ""Non abbiamo bisogno"" condemned his Fascist movement's ""pagan worship of the State"" and ""revolution which snatches the young from the Church and from Jesus Christ, and which inculcates in its own young people hatred, violence and irreverence."" The Western Allies saw the war against Hitler as a war for ""Christian Civilisation"", while the atheist Stalin re-opened Russia's churches to steel the Soviet population in the battle against Germany. The Nazi leadership itself held a range of views on religion. Hitler's movement said it endorsed a form of Christianity stripped of its Jewish origins and certain key doctrines such"
"of his regime, condemning anti-Semitism and asking for an end to interference in church affairs. Paul Berben wrote, ""A Church envoy was sent to Hitler to protest against the religious persecutions, the concentration camps, and the activities of the Gestapo, and to demand freedom of speech, particularly in the press."" The Nazi Minister of the Interior, Wilhelm Frick responded harshly. Hundreds of pastors were arrested; Dr Weissler, a signatory to the memorandum, was killed at Sachsenhausen concentration camp and the funds of the church were confiscated and collections forbidden. Church resistance stiffened and by early 1937, Hitler had abandoned his"
"in 1940), then to Portugal and finally to New York in 1940. There he taught philosophy at the Jesuit Fordham University. Hundreds of arrests and closure of Catholic presses followed the issuing of Pope Pius XI's ""Mit brennender Sorge"" anti-Nazi encyclical. Members of Catholic aid agencies such as Caritas provided relief to victims of the Nazis and gathered intelligence on the fate of prisoners of the regime. Among the German laity, Gertrud Luckner, was among the first to sense the genocidal inclinations of the Hitler regime and to take national action. A pacifist and member of the German Catholics' Peace"
"though Wust's was essentially Christian. When Adolf Hitler came to power, Wust, one of the few early readers of ""Mein Kampf"", became active in the church's resistance. He promoted a cultural offensive for Catholic Germany, and based much of his philosophy on what he perceived as the cultural unity of Europe. He suffered from cancer since 1938 and died at age 56. Only a few days before his death he wrote a farewell letter to his students, which reportedly was widely read at the Eastern Front. Founded in 1982, the Peter Wust Society is dedicated to the spiritual heritage of"
"support for the war, and the Gestapo banned church meetings for a few weeks. In the first few months of the war, the German churches complied. No denunciations of the invasion of Poland, nor the Blitzkrieg were issued. The Catholic bishops stated, ""We appeal to the faithful to join in ardent prayer that God's providence may lead this war to blessed success for Fatherland and people."" Despite such protestation of loyalty to the Fatherland, the anti-church radical Reinhard Heydrich determined that support from church leaders could not be expected because of the nature of their doctrines and internationalism, and wanted"
"soon National Socialism will be the religion of all Germans."" Goebbels led the Nazi persecution of the German Catholic clergy and, as the war progressed, on the ""Church Question"", he wrote ""after the war it has to be generally solved... There is, namely, an insoluble opposition between the Christian and a heroic-German world view"". Hitler's chosen deputy and private secretary, Martin Bormann, was a rigid guardian of National Socialist orthodoxy and saw Christianity and Nazism as ""incompatible"" (mainly because of its Jewish origins), as did the official Nazi philosopher, Alfred Rosenberg. In his ""Myth of the Twentieth Century"" (1930), Rosenberg"
"was interrupted by the actual declaration of war! While conference participants were hurriedly returning home by train, Henry Hodgkin and the German Lutheran pastor Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze made a mutual commitment before parting in Cologne that while their countries might be at war with each other, ""We are one in Christ and can never be at war."" This commitment implied of course to abstain from any direct personal participation in the conflict, in line with the traditional pacifist Quaker position, but also to work relentlessly to reestablish peace between their two nations no matter the policies of their governments. Hodgkin kept"
"from joining Nazi Germany in the war. Following the Fall of France, Pius XII wrote confidentially to Hitler, Churchill and Mussolini proposing to offer to mediate a ""just and honourable peace"", but asking to receive confidential advice in advance of how such an offer would be received. When, by 1943 the war had turned against the Axis Powers, and Mussolini's Foreign Minister Count Ciano was relieved of his post and sent to the Vatican as ambassador, Hitler suspected that he had been sent to arrange a separate peace with the Allies. On July 25, the Italian King dismissed Mussolini. Hitler's"
"Churches as a priority concern, and anti-church and anticlerical sentiments were strong among grassroots party activists. The Hitler regime permitted various persecutions of the Church in the Nazi Empire, though the political relationship between Church and state among Nazi allies was varied. While the Nazi Fuhrer Adolf Hitler's public relationship to Religion in Nazi Germany may be defined as one of opportunism, his personal position on Catholicism and Christianity was one of hostility. Hitler's chosen ""deputy"", Martin Bormann, an atheist, recorded in Hitler's Table Talk that Nazism was secular, scientific and anti-religious in outlook. Biographer Alan Bullock wrote that, though"
"Fulda. The bishops produced a joint pastoral letter regarding the Spanish Civil War: ""Therefore, German unity should not be sacrificed to religious antagonism, quarrels, contempt, and struggles. Rather our national power of resistance must be increased and strengthened so that not only may Europe be freed from Bolshevism by us, but also that the whole civilized world may be indebted to us."" Goebbels noted the mood of Hitler in his diary on 25 October: ""Trials against the Catholic Church temporarily stopped. Possibly wants peace, at least temporarily. Now a battle with Bolshevism. Wants to speak with Faulhaber"". As Nuncio, Cesare"
"his decision, while remaining a pacifist, to join the British Home Guard: ""In fighting Hitler,"" he wrote, ""we are truly fighting the Devil, the Anti-Christ ... Hitler was a crusader against God."" His best known comment on the subject was recalled on his death: He wrote in the poem ""Explained"": <poem>Elizabeth Ann Said to her Nan: ""Please will you tell me how God began? ""Somebody"" must have made Him. So Who could it be, 'cos I want to know?"" </poem> He also wrote in the poem ""Vespers"": <poem>""Oh! Thank you, God, for a lovely day. And what was the other"
"was one of hostility. Bormann recorded in ""Hitler's Table Talk"" that Nazism was secular, scientific and anti-religious in outlook. The 1920 Nazi Party Platform had promised to support freedom of religions with the caveat: ""insofar as they do not jeopardize the state's existence or conflict with the moral sentiments of the Germanic race"", and expressed support for so-called ""Positive Christianity"", a movement which sought to detach Christianity from its Jewish roots, and key doctrines like the Apostle's Creed. William Shirer wrote that under the leadership of Rosenberg, Bormann and Himmler—backed by Hitler—the Nazi regime intended to destroy Christianity in Germany,"
"be no further provocations of the churches during the war. Pius XII became Pope on the eve of World War II, and maintained links to the German Resistance. Although remaining publicly neutral, Pius advised the British in 1940 of the readiness of certain German generals to overthrow Hitler if they could be assured of an honourable peace, offered assistance to the German resistance in the event of a coup and warned the Allies of the planned German invasion of the Low Countries in 1940. In 1943, Pius issued the ""Mystici corporis Christi"" encyclical, in which he condemned the practice of"
"through ""Gleichschaltung"" ultimately failed, and Hitler became disinterested in supporting the so-called ""German Christians"" Nazi aligned movement. Hitler installed his friend Ludwig Muller, a Nazi and former naval chaplain, to serve as Reich Bishop, but Muller's heretical views against St Paul and the Semitic origins of Christ and the Bible quickly alienated sections of the Protestant church. Pastor Martin Neimoller responded with the ""Pastors Emergency League"" which re-affirmed the Bible. The movement grew into the Confessing Church, from which some clergymen opposed the Nazi regime. The Confessing Church was banned on 1 July 1937. Neimoller was arrested by the Gestapo,"
"of the conflict. The similarly minded US President Franklin D. Roosevelt re-established American diplomatic relations with the Vatican after a seventy-year hiatus by dispatching Myron C. Taylor as his personal representative. Pius warmly welcomed Roosevelt's envoy. Taylor urged Pius XII to explicitly condemn Nazi atrocities. Instead, Pius XII spoke against the ""evils of modern warfare"", but did not go further. This may have been so for fear of Nazi retaliation experienced previously with the issuance of the encyclical ""Mit brennender Sorge"" in 1937. Pius allowed national hierarchies to assess and respond to their local situations and utilized Vatican Radio to"
"destroys His work is declaring war on the Lord's creation, the divine will."" In Mein Kampf, Hitler saw Jesus as against the Jews rather than one of them: ""And the founder of Christianity made no secret indeed of his estimation of the Jewish people. When He found it necessary, He drove those enemies of the human race out of the Temple of God."" Derek Hastings writes that, according to Hitler's personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann, the strongly anti-Semitic Hieronymite Catholic priest Bernhard Stempfle was a member of Hitler's inner circle in the early 1920s and frequently advised him on religious issues."
"Adolf Hitler's bodyguard Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Nazi Germany, initiated World War II in Europe with the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and was central to the Holocaust. He was hated by his persecuted enemies and even by some of his own countrymen. Although attempts were made to assassinate him, none were successful. Hitler had numerous bodyguard units over the years which provided security. When Hitler returned to Munich from military service in 1918, he became a member of the Nazi Party, an extremist far-right political party in Bavaria. In 1921, he was elected leader of the party."
"were several peace initiatives. The Open Christmas Letter was a public message for peace addressed ""To the Women of Germany and Austria"", signed by a group of 101 British women suffragettes at the end of 1914 as the first Christmas of World War I approached. Pope Benedict XV, on 7 December 1914, had begged for an official truce between the warring governments. He asked ""that the guns may fall silent at least upon the night the angels sang."" This attempt was officially rebuffed. Fraternisation—peaceful and sometimes friendly interactions between opposing forces—was a regular feature in quiet front-line sectors of the"